HK1113975A1 - Smokeless cigarette - Google Patents

Abstract

A smokeless cigarette for e.g. anti-smoke purposes includes a part that can deliver or distribute nicotine to the skin of a user. The cigarette includes a mouthpiece part having an inner porous body permeable to air, designed substantially as a filter of a filter cigarette. The front part that corresponds to the tobacco part of a filter cigarette can be made to include an inner portion of for example an air permeable material impregnated with a fragrant or refreshing substance. The inner bodies are secured to each other by and surrounded by a surface layer of a material that in a region in the mouthpiece part is impregnated with nicotine. The surface layer can have perforations in its area adjacent to the front part in the case where the inner portion of the front part of the cigarette is not permeable to air. Before use, the whole cigarette is enclosed by a thin protective film that has to be removed before use. By the impregnation with nicotine, the nicotine can when using the cigarette, in the contact with a user's skin, penetrate the skin into the blood and hence give stimulation.

Description

Smokeless cigarette

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority and benefit from swedish patent application No.0402764-5 filed 11/2004, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a smokeless cigarette, and is suitable for the purpose of inhibiting smoke.

Background

There are known various means for the purpose of smoke inhibition, such as: nicotine strip and chewable pill containing nicotine. However, these approaches provide inadequate oral stimulation to the user, as well as inadequate body stimulation, because they do not require the user to hold a portion of the user's body.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a cigarette suitable for smoking deterrent purposes.

It is another object of the invention to provide a cigarette that automatically supplies nicotine to the blood system of a user when the cigarette is held or used.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a cigarette which, in addition to being non-ignitable in use and thus non-smokable, still provides oral stimulation.

It is another object of the invention to provide a cigarette that is smokeless and does not produce any passive smoking.

Thus, in general, a cigarette comprises a portion that provides nicotine to the skin of the user, in particular to the skin of the user's fingers, lips and tongue, through which it enters the user's blood system when the cigarette is used by the user, i.e. when holding the cigarette or when having it between her/his lips. In a conventional manner, the cigarette comprises a mouthpiece portion and a front portion, and the mouthpiece comprises an air permeable core. On the surface of the cylindrical envelope of the cigarettes, the whole cigarette, including the mouth and front portion, is preferably closed by a paper envelope. The capsule is then infused with nicotine, at least in the portion of the capsule that contains or surrounds the mouthpiece portion. The envelope is preferably made of a substantially gas impermeable material. The wrapper of the mouthpiece portion comprises a plurality of apertures in a region where the wrapper is adjacent the front portion; especially in the case of the front part itself being impermeable to air.

The cigarette comprises a core made of a breathable material, the front of which is impregnated with some suitable substance, such as: a sweet substance and/or a volatile substance having an antibacterial or refreshing effect. Alternatively, the core itself is made of a substance with a pleasant odour, such as: chewing gum, in particular comprising a chewing gum base made of a sugar-containing material.

Such a cigarette has the following advantages in other respects:

it is adapted to be held between the fingers of the smoker more or less automatically to place it between their lips, without having to terminate the hobby, as they hold the cigarette proposed here.

The cigarette is smokeless, and because fresh air is inhaled, the cigarette may be added with antibacterial or refreshing substances, etc., thereby preventing the smoker from inhaling smoke.

When using the cigarette as proposed herein, the risk of lung cancer, bronchial cancer, etc. can be reduced.

So-called passive smoking, i.e. the inhalation of harmful smoke and harmful particles generated by the combustion of cigarette components by people in the vicinity of the cigarette, does not occur during use.

Additional objects and advantages will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the methodologies, processes, instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Drawings

While the novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims, a more complete understanding of the foregoing and other features of the invention, both as to organization and content, may be obtained by reference to the following non-limiting examples which are set forth in the appended claims, wherein:

figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of a smokeless cigarette suitable for e.g. smoke-inhibiting purposes,

fig. 2 is a view similar to fig. 1, but showing a cigarette with a wrapper,

fig. 3 is a view similar to fig. 1, but showing a cigarette having a mouthpiece portion and a front portion,

fig. 4 is a view similar to fig. 1, but showing a mouthpiece portion which is air permeable and an air impermeable front portion,

figure 5 is a view similar to figure 3 but showing a cigarette having a front portion including a channel, an

Figure 5 is a view similar to figure 3 but showing a cigarette with an alternative attachment means in the core.

Detailed Description

A smokeless cigarette suitable for other smoke suppression purposes is shown in fig. 1 and includes a region 8, which region 8 is filled with nicotine or is generally designed to both dissipate and contain nicotine. The area 8 is located in the portion of the smoker's skin that comes into contact with the cigarette when smoking. This region is the surface region on the surface of the envelope of the substantially cylindrical cigarette, shown at one end of the cigarette. In particular this area 8 is a part of the surface layer 7, which surface layer 7 is also referred to herein as a wrapper, for example made of a suitable paper material, see fig. 2. The cigarette 1 generally comprises a mouthpiece portion 2 and a front portion 4, see figure 3. The nicotine dissipating region 8 is preferably located in the mouthpiece portion. As shown in fig. 4, the mouthpiece part 2 has a porous, air-permeable inner body or core 3, designed essentially as a filter for a filter cigarette. The front portion 4 of the cigarette corresponds to the tobacco portion of a filter cigarette and has an inner body or core 5 provided with a longitudinal channel 6 (as shown in figure 5) to allow air to flow through the channel. The core parts 3, 5 are bonded together, preferably surrounded by a surface layer 7, and filled with nicotine in an area 8 of the mouthpiece part 2. The surface layer 7 is preferably made of a material which is also to any extent impermeable to air, and as shown in figure 4, it is possible to provide holes 5 in the area close to the front portion 4, in which case the core 5 of the front portion of the cigarette is also impermeable to air. Before use, the entire cigarette may be enclosed by a thin protective film 10, which may be a transparent polymeric material, for example. The protective film must be removed before use. By the surface layer 7 being impregnated with nicotine, the nicotine can, when using the cigarette, contact the fingers, lips and tongue of the smoker, penetrate the skin and enter the smoker's blood, giving an irritation. The filter 3 may also be filled with nicotine. The cores 3, 5 may be arranged adjacent to each other but may be designed with a larger contact surface for improved mechanical strength, for example by providing one of the cores with an axial hole, which may for example have the shape of the surface of a frustum of a cone, and the other core with a corresponding protrusion having a complementary shape, as shown in fig. 6.

The interior 5 within the front 4 of the cigarette consists of or comprises an air permeable material, such as a porous material, which may be impregnated with a refreshing substance having a pleasant taste or aroma, such as peppermint or eucalyptus oil. Further, the core 5 may be composed of, for example, a cylindrical chewing gum. After use as a cigarette, the chewing gum can be removed from the mouthpiece portion 1, and after removal of the surface layer 7, the chewing gum can be used as a chewing gum. In general, the core of the front portion may comprise or consist of a substance having a pleasant taste, such as chewing gum or some sugar-containing substance.

Although particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described herein, it should be recognized that a variety of other embodiments may be devised and that a person of ordinary skill in the art may realize numerous other advantages, modifications and changes without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to the specific details, representative apparatus, and illustrative examples shown and described herein. Accordingly, many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. It is therefore to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications which are within the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Numerous other embodiments are contemplated without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. A smokeless cigarette is characterized in that: when the cigarette is intended to be used in contact with the skin of a user, at least a surface layer of the cigarette, at least in one area of the cigarette, is impregnated with nicotine so that when the cigarette is gripped or used, nicotine is transferred to the skin of the user and from there into the blood system of the user.

2. The smokeless cigarette of claim 1 wherein: comprising a capsule enclosing a substantially cylindrical capsule surface of said cigarette, said capsule being located at least in a part thereof and thereby filled with nicotine.

3. The smokeless cigarette of claim 1 wherein: comprising a mouth portion and a front portion such that at least a region of at least one surface layer of said cigarette is located within said mouth portion.

4. The smokeless cigarette of claim 3 wherein: the mouthpiece portion includes an air permeable interior.

5. The smokeless cigarette of claim 1 wherein: comprises a mouthpiece portion, a front portion and a sleeve, the mouthpiece portion and the front portion being closed by the sleeve, and the sleeve being filled with nicotine at least in part over the mouthpiece portion.

6. The smokeless cigarette of claim 5 wherein: said envelope being made of a material which is also impervious to air to any extent, said envelope in said mouth portion including apertures in a region of said mouth portion proximate said forward portion.

7. The smokeless cigarette of claim 3 wherein: said front portion comprises a core made of an air-permeable material, which is filled with a scented substance and/or a volatile substance with weak antibacterial or refreshing properties.

8. The smokeless cigarette of claim 3 wherein: the front portion includes a core made of a substance that has a pleasant taste.

9. The smokeless cigarette of claim 3 wherein: the front portion includes a core made of a sugar-containing substance.

10. The smokeless cigarette of claim 3 wherein: the front portion includes a core made of chewing gum.